Doctor Accused of Faking Favorable Research on Vioxx and Celebrex; Discredited Research Was Followed by Others

A doctor who documented the effectiveness of the controversial pain killers Vioxx and Celebrex in dozens of high-profile research studies and lectures has been accused of fabricating the results.

Dr. Scott Reuben, an anesthesiologist now on leave from Springfield’s Baystate Medical Center, purportedly conducted research on the use of multiple drugs to relieve pain and speed recovery after surgery. Drugs included in Reuben’s work included blockbuster drugs like Bextra (Pfizer Inc.), Celebrex and Lyrica (Wyeth), and Vioxx (Merck & Co.).

In most of the research, Reuben reached favorable findings about the use of the drugs, some of which have been taken off the market and linked to severe and deadly side effects in thousands of patients.

However, a review of Reuben’s work by a hospital panel has revealed that he made up all or some of his data in at least 21 papers published in medical journals from 1996 and 2008. As a result, medical journals which published his studies have been asked to retract them and subsequent research by others, which widely relied on Reuben’s findings, has been discredited.

The journal Anesthesia & Analgesia has agreed to retract 10 of Reuben’s studies while the journal Anesthesiology has retracted three.

Controversial Pain Killers Were ‘Studied’

Drugs included in work by Reuben include the Cox-2 inhibitors Vioxx and Bextra, which were recalled in 2006 after evidence showed they increased the risk of fatal heart attacks and strokes. Celebrex, another brand of potent pain killer in the same family as Vioxx and Bextra, remains on the market and also was part of Reuben’s research.

Reuben received grants for his research from Pfizer, the maker of Bextra, from 2002 to 2007, and he also gave talks about Pfizer drugs to colleagues as part of the drug company’s speakers’ bureau. However, as word of Reuben’s fraudulent research emerged, Pfizer quickly attempted to distance itself from the discredited work, saying the company was “not involved in the conduct of any of these independent studies or in the interpretation or publication of the study results.”

Since Reuben’s findings on pain killers was so widely relied upon by doctors doing their own research, the scandal calls into question the integrity of a far broader scope of medical research than just Reuben’s own work. Some medical professionals have said Reuben’s work had a “huge impact on the field.”

Therefore, clinical trials of drugs using data from Reuben’s research may have to be repeated as a result of the controversy over his tactics.

Other Vioxx Research Problems

Research promoting the use of Vioxx has been questioned before. In 2008, it was learned that Merck employees, not medical researchers, had authored some studies of the drug, which were then signed by professors and others claiming they had written the findings. That bombshell was uncovered in documents released as part of lawsuits filed by former patients for injuries caused by Vioxx. The fraudulent handling of drug research is an epidemic in the United States and Dr. Reuben is just a small piece to the puzzle.

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